1958 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider

Estimated at $5.5–7 million, this convertible delivered the highest price at the city’s week of annual sales, bringing $7.5 million—a record for a steel-bodied LWB California Spider and evidence of the booming Ferrari market. “The model is considered a must for any serious collection,” explains Gooding & Co. specialist Paul Hageman. (Ralph Lauren owns one.) With its rare covered headlights and restored paint job, this 1958 example, Hageman says, “is as beautifully done as they come.”

Photo courtesy of Gooding & Co.

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Brebis, circa 1993, by François-Xavier Lalanne

These days it’s pretty much a given that any of Lalanne’s famous sheep will spark spirited bidding, so strong is the demand for the sculptures, iterations of which are owned by such tastemakers as Reed Krakoff and Daniel Romualdez. “Like Tiffany’s lamps, these pieces are as much of a design commodity as you can get,” says Phillips design specialist Meaghan Roddy. This particular work came from an edition of 250 epoxy-and-bronze ewes, whose prices run lower than those of the wool-covered versions first conceived in the 1960s. Estimated at $80,000–$100,000, it achieved $160,000, the sale’s top bid.

Photo courtesy of Phillips de Pury & Co.

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1954 Dalia chandelier by Fontanaarte

Crafted of crystal and brass, this 51"-dia. fixture—the top lot—was the second of two identical chandeliers, each estimated at $20,000–$30,000. Both were from the collection of Loris Manna, a Gio Ponti scholar whose enviable hoard of Italian designs formed the bulk of the sale. While the first went to a phone bidder for a respectable if unremarkable $34,000, this one became the focus of intense competition between that same buyer and another enthusiast, also bidding by phone. The former, intent on having a pair, eventually won out, snagging the piece for a hammer price of $74,000.

Photo courtesy of Wright

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Untitled 1981 work by Andy Warhol

Bearing cutout dollar signs, this 20"-dia. metal sculpture was given to the Studio 54 co-owner by Warhol in 1981—the year Rubell was released from prison after serving time for tax evasion. Thought to be unique, the piece was up for auction with dozens of Rubell’s other effects. Design dealer Jim Elkind of Manhattan’s Lost City Arts bought it for $44,000, within the $30,000–$50,000 estimate. “I thought it would go for at least $80,000,” Elkind says. “Had the sale been in New York, it would have gotten a true Warhol price.”

Photo courtesy of Palm Beach Modern Auctions

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Lonely Metropolitan, 1932, by Herbert Bayer

Sold at Sotheby’s, “A Show of Hands: Photographs from the Collection of Henry Buhl” (New York, December 12, 2012)

The one-of-a-kind photomontage with gouache set a new record for Bayer—a Bauhaus artist, designer, and architect—when it commanded $1.25 million against an estimate of $300,000–$500,000, leading what proved to be a historic sale. Previously the subject of an exhibition at Manhattan’s Guggenheim museum, the trove of images (all featuring hands) brought a total of $12.3 million, buyer’s premium included, the highest sum ever paid at a single auction for a private collection of photographs.